Homemade Pop-Tarts? Who knew!

If you're not familiar with Pinterest you should be! Its an inspiring website full of fashion, home decor, recipes, and so much more! This is where I get most all of my recipes and then I get linked to all the other amazing baking blogs out there. Through Pinterest I found the adorable blog The Brown Eyed Baker, and on this blog I found this really fun recipe for Homemade Pop-Tarts!! Being a lover of all Pop-tarts I could not even stand it, I had to try this recipe immediately!

Music: John Mayer Room For Squares album

I really, really enjoyed creating these little tarts, I found myself smiling through out most of the creation.
You can make these Pop-tarts with really any type of filling, but strawberry is my favorite so I chose to go with that. I also wanted to do a few with a Cinnamon Brown sugar filling as well.

I started by creating my fillings. The Cinnamon filling was really simple. A little bit of flour, some ground cinnamon and Brown Sugar. Whisk it all together and set it aside until you're ready to fill your tarts. 

For my strawberry filling I wanted to use my very, very favorite jam. Smuckers Strawberry preserves. YUM, I could eat this stuff right out of the jar. DELISH

To make the strawberry filling in a small saucepan you combine some water, cornstarch and then your strawberry jam and allow that to boil once its boiling leave it to simmer for a few minutes. You can only imagine how delightful this smelled!

My shadow, who follows me around the kitchen just hoping something will drop off my counter top.

Making the crust for these made me a little nervous. I make a homemade crust for my pies, but this was a little bit of a different recipe. Crusts can be tricky if you do not get the exact ingredient amounts just right! To little or to much can completely throw off your crust. This crust recipe called for flour, butter, salt, eggs, and milk. 

As you can see it came out just as I had hoped! The next step was to flour up your surface and roll out the dough so that you can cut your squares.

As you can see my squares weren't exactly perfect, but I kind of enjoyed them to be a little off.

I put them on my parchment lined baking sheet and added the sweet strawberry filling! They looked delightful without even having the tops on yet!

I also made a few with the brown sugar filling to mix it up a little bit!

I added the tops, and made sure they were fully sealed around the edges with a fork. I poked some holes in the tops, and let them sit in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Then they were ready to be put into the oven! They smelled amazing, I was dying of excitement while they were in there.

How delicious do these look! They came out just like I had hoped. The crust was perfectly flakey, and the strawberry filling tasted just like it came out of an actual Pop-tart box! I would love to have one of these delights every morning!

 

I'm enjoying a strawberry tart as we speak! Its a good day. 

 Homemade Pop-Tarts
Yield: 9 pop-tarts
Prep Time: 1 hour | Bake Time: 25 minutes
For the pastry crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks, or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
For the cinnamon sugar filling:
½ cup light brown sugar
1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
For the strawberry filling:
¾ cup strawberry jam (or whatever flavor you’d like)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
1 egg, lightly beaten (to brush on pastry)
1. Prepare the cinnamon sugar filling by whisking the ingredients together.
2. If using the strawberry filling, prepare by whisking together the cornstarch and water, and then combine with the jam in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool.
3. To make the crust, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, work in the butter until it is the size of peas and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. Whisk together the egg and milk and add to the dough. Mix together with a fork until everything is evenly moistened. Knead briefly on a floured surface, if necessary, until the dough comes together.
4. Divide the dough in half. (At this point you can wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days.) If you refrigerate the dough, let it come to room temperature for about 15 minutes before rolling out. Roll out one piece of dough to about 1/8-inch thick, in a 9½ by 12½ rectangle. Using a sharp knife, pastry wheel or bench scraper, trim the rectangle to 9×12 inches. Cut the sheet of dough into nine 3×4 rectangles. Using a spatula, transfer the rectangles to a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Brush the lightly beaten egg on each of the rectangles. Spoon a tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, leaving a ½-inch of space around the edges.
6. Refrigerate the pan with the pastries (you don’t need to cover them) for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool slightly before serving. Store pastries in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

(Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker)